Anniversary of the Government Forces' Attack on University Campus; Prince Reza Pahlavi: The Case of 'That Crime' Remains Open Until Addressed in National Court

On the 25th anniversary of the events of July 9 and the attack by the Islamic Republic forces on the University Campus of Tehran, Prince Reza Pahlavi emphasized that the case of 'that crime' remains open until it is addressed in a 'national court.' Mustafa Moein, the former Minister of Higher Education, described the incident as a 'Mongol-like attack' intended to instill 'fear.' Additionally, a group of social media users recalled the attacks on the University Campus of Tehran and Tabriz on July 9, 1999, pointing to the roles of Mohammad Khatami and the so-called 'Reformist' government, as well as Hassan Rouhani, in that bloody event, which resulted in at least one death, two disappearances, and numerous injuries and arrests of students. Prince Reza Pahlavi, by sharing photos from the attack on the University Campus of Tehran, stated: 'Twenty-five years ago at this hour, the thugs of the Islamic Republic attacked the dormitories of Tehran University at night and brutally beat the students; they threw some of them off the buildings and killed several.' He recalled that 'in response to that bloody attack, students and the public took to the streets in an unprecedented demonstration for several days, controlling the central streets of Tehran and marking a historic turning point in the struggle to overthrow the Islamic Republic,' adding: 'The names of the martyrs and the missing from those brave protests are eternal, and their memory lives on.' Prince Reza Pahlavi also emphasized: 'We will not forget that from Hassan Rouhani, the then Secretary of the Supreme Security Council of the regime, to Mohammad Khatami, the head of this council and then president, to senior commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, including Qassem Soleimani, all assisted the supreme oppressor, Ali Khamenei, in suppressing the student and public protests of July 1999.' He added: 'The perpetrators and instigators of the crime at the University Campus should know that the case of that crime is still open and will one day be addressed in a national court.' Meanwhile, Mustafa Moein, in an interview with Khabar Online, described the attack on the University Campus as a 'Mongol-like attack' and stated that the incident was meant to be a 'show of force' because 'the sin of the university and the students was being at the forefront.' He mentioned that in the Islamic Republic, 'we have had three cultural revolutions, one in 1981, the second during Ahmadinejad's presidency, and the third has begun in the thirteenth government,' which 'has effectively transformed the university towards scientific and even moral decline.' Furthermore, a group of users on social media have reminded others of the events of July 9, recalling the attack on the University Campus of Tehran and Tabriz and the subsequent protests. Amir Farshad Ebrahimi, a political activist with a history of membership in the Ansar Hezbollah group in the 1990s, wrote on social media: 'Everyone should know that every crime committed at the University Campus in 1999 was a crime carried out by the hands of the Revolutionary Guards and Ansar Hezbollah and the police, but the instigators and perpetrators were not them, but the reformists.' He stated that 'from early July 1999, it was clear that a plan was being prepared for a widespread crackdown on the university,' saying: 'I was against this crackdown and knew it was a trap, but I didn't know it was a trap set by the reformists (I felt it was a trap from the security forces known as the Sweet Circle). I informed both Younesi and Mousavi Lari and Tajzadeh, but none took action.' Ebrahimi recalled that 'a few members of Ansar Hezbollah' were later arrested with the weapon that killed Ezzat Ebrahimnejad during a robbery, but were all released the next day. As an eyewitness of the events at the University Campus, he also referred to the killing of Fereshteh Alizadeh and the disappearance of Saeed Zinali, two other victims of the University Campus events, stating: 'The bottom line is that on the anniversary of July 9, not mentioning the behind-the-scenes crimes of Tajzadeh, Lari, Khatami, and even Hassan Rouhani is a betrayal to the martyrs and freedom-seekers.' According to Ebrahimi, 'Tajzadeh had turned Ansar Hezbollah into a tool of his own crime and had made the students a bargaining chip,' and 'he had taken the corpse of Ezzat Ebrahimnejad to Shariati Hospital and connected him to a machine, saying he would recover soon,' while on the other hand, 'he led the students to the Ministry of Interior and then incited them to leave and go to the Leader's House, and at that very moment, Khatami gave permission to Aziz Jafari in the Supreme National Security Council that any student who approached the Leader's House had the right to shoot directly.' Reza Mehregan, a political activist and one of the signatories of the '14 Statement' calling for Ali Khamenei's resignation and the transition from the Islamic Republic, in a video message he published on Instagram, commemorated the memory of the killed and imprisoned at the University Campus, reminding that this incident 'occurred during Mohammad Khatami's presidency, the leader of the reform movement.' Hasti Amiri, a political prisoner, in a letter from Evin Prison on the anniversary of July 9 stated that the university's share of justice was 'suspension, expulsion, imprisonment, killing, and disappearance, and the disgusting smile of a thieving barber,' and 'we have not forgotten the black boots of the military on the university, amidst the enthusiasm and motivation of youth. We have not forgotten the betrayal of those claiming to support the university to their promises.' Ms. Amiri, in a letter published on the Telegram channel 'United Students,' emphasized that 'once again, another person with different promises has come to power,' stressing the rights of university students, including 'the right to organize, the right to assemble, freeing the university from the grip of intelligence agencies, and the right to study and teach.' Meanwhile, Leila Mahdavi, the mother of Siavash Mahmoudi, a teenager killed during the crackdown on protests in 2021, showed a video describing 'the University Campus' and 'the massacres of past years,' displaying her necklace, which symbolizes 'the bullet shot at her child in the street' and 'the map of Iran,' stating: 'Let us not forget what young lives we lost, both in 2021 and in past years.' Some users also reminded that two days after the attack on the University Campus of Tehran, on July 20, 1999, the University of Tabriz and the student dormitory were attacked, and government forces shot directly at students; however, this incident 'was overshadowed by the events at the University Campus of Tehran.' Following the suspension of the newspaper Salam, on the evening of July 17, after a call for a protest gathering was posted on the University Campus notice board, student gatherings began in the early hours of July 18, chanting slogans against the violation of freedom of expression. Riot police (Nopu) and plainclothes forces (Ansar Hezbollah) attacked the students' dormitories, destroying rooms and injuring several students who were asleep. Protests also spread to the University Campus of Tabriz, where students continued their protests until July 23 in response to the killing and wounding of some individuals. According to a report by the UN Human Rights Rapporteur in 2000, nearly 1,500 people were arrested during the student protests in Tehran. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation also reported that at least eight individuals were killed during these protests (and during the attack on the dormitory). Among the victims of July 9, Ezzat Ebrahimnejad is the only deceased officially recognized by the Islamic Republic. There is still no news about the fate of Saeed Zinali, a protester who was arrested by security forces at his home a few days after July 9. Additionally, Fereshteh Alizadeh, a student at Alzahra University, is one of the missing persons in the events at the University Campus.